The wolf’s story ends with the thought that while it’s hard to share the mountain, it “surely…is big enough to fit everyone who loves it.” Flipping the book, readers begin the shepherd’s story-and, in a powerfully teachable moment, it is exactly the same, word for word, as the wolf’s. The wolf is referring, of course, to the shepherd, who carries a long gun in the accompanying illustration. The wolf relates how it is wary of the “Other,” who has been feared for generations. The wolf goes on to tell how it eats, sleeps, and lives on the mountain and how there is danger, but it is also where the wolf feels safe and happy. “This, here, is my mountain,” the text reads.

The wolf’s story begins with an arresting illustration depicting the wolf looking down on the shepherd and flock. One side presents the story from the wolf’s perspective the other, from the shepherd’s. Thanks to a clever design, readers can begin from either side-the physical book flips so the story begins from either end. A great pairing for François Aubineau and Jérôme Peyrat’s On My Mountain (2020).Told in two separate stories, the perspectives of a wolf and a shepherd living on the same mountain are presented in this picture-book import from France. This approachable story with an outdoorsy theme nicely introduces concepts of both fear and bravery, and the dual perspectives should encourage empathy. The minimal words on each spread make this ideal for emerging readers, and the scenes in the cut-paper collage artwork, featuring modern, stylized natural shapes against crisp, white backgrounds, will be easy for children to identify and interpret. With a little help from their grownups, both the boy and the bear cub will need to find some courage to conquer their fears. They come together when the boy takes some trash to the dumpster and is frightened to see a bear standing nearby-the cub is trapped inside the bin and needs help getting out.

As the boy experiences different levels of fear, a wild cub simultaneously experiences fear, too, though the circumstances of their fears are different.

In this heartwarming story, a boy and his mom go camping.

On My Mountain by François Aubineau